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December 21, 2009

Summit's "The Hurt Locker" and the Weinstein Co.'s "Nine" were named best drama and musical, respectively, at the International Press Academy's 14th Satellite Awards.

The event, held Sunday at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, handed out its top dramatic acting honors to Jeremy Renner ("Locker") and Shoreh Aghdashloo ("The Stoning of Soraya M."). Comedy/musical acting laurels went to Meryl Streep for "Julie & Julia" and Michael Stuhlbarg for "A Serious Man."

Rounding up the usual suspects, the group hailed supporting players Christoph Waltz for "Inglourious Basterds" and Mo'Nique for "Precious."

Since June, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences opened up the best picture race to 10 nominees, Oscar has been waiting for a knight in shining boxoffice armor -- preferably a "Dark Knight": a boxoffice powerhouse with strong critical credentials.

A large part of the rationale for opting for an Oscar Top 10 was the hope that Academy voters would embrace mainstream hits, thereby expanding the potential audience for the broadcast while avoiding the cries of protest from jilted fanboys who felt robbed when "The Dark Knight" failed to earn a best picture nomination last time around.

But then another "Dark Knight" failed to immediately materialize.......

But just when it appeared that a whole host of smaller, specialty films were lining up to fill the available slots -- in the process, undermining the Academy's attempt to reach out to a wider audience -- Fox's "Avatar," with a veritable flourish of trumpets, has ridden to the rescue........

Since 1977's "Star Wars," only 1982's "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" and the three "Lord of the Rings" movies at the beginning of this decade have made that select list of nominees. A movie like 1993's "Jurassic Park" -- groundbreaking in its day -- had to settle for visual effects and two sound noms, all of which it won.

Right now, "Avatar" is looking like it will join that club -- and potentially attract lots of self-proclaimed Avartards to the March 7 Oscar broadcast as well.

Adam Shankman, who's producing the show with Bill Mechanic, certainly was jazzed when he tweeted early Monday: " 'Avatar' is not only brilliant but has the most powerful environmental message of the year. Amazing. Game-changer."

Fox is going yellow for the home stretch of its "Simpsons" 20th anniversary celebration.

For the week beginning Jan. 3, graphical elements across Fox properties will turn yellow in honor of Matt Groening's iconic characters. That means on-air graphics, Fox's Web sites, social network pages and special on-air promos -- all in yellow, along with a range of other stunts (such as local Fox news anchors wearing yellow ties).

The move is part of the final push of what's been an extensive "Simpsons" marketing push to honor the series, which concludes with a Jan. 10 one-hour documentary special on the show directed by Morgan Spurlock. Right before the doc, "Simpsons" will air its 450th episode.

"We always knew at the end of the campaign we'd go yellow," said Fox executive vp marketing Joe Earley, who has led the year-and-half campaign. The effort has included on-air scavenger hunts, contests for viewers to create their own posters and "couch gag," and even the "Simpsons" receiving their own postage stamps.

It's rare for a network to put such an extensive marketing effort behind a veteran series. It's not as if "Simpsons" is even Fox's highest-rated program on Sundays (that honor goes to "Family Guy). Earley points out that any uniqueness in the campaign is matched by the show's accomplishments.

" 'The Simpsons' is not only a Fox icon, it's a cultural icon worldwide," Earley said. "For a show to hit its 20th anniversary in today's universe is such a feat, and it still has such a resonance in the zeitgeist. The show has viewers who have viewed it for three generations. Besides, it's such a creative property that it's fun to come up with ideas for it."

Starz is renewing its upcoming action-drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand" -- and the series hasn't even premiered yet.

Starz called the move "a bold vote of confidence."

"We couldn't be happier with the first season," said Starz Entertainment EVP, Programming, Stephan Shelanski. "'Spartacus' delivers on all levels – action, characters, intrigue, romance and excitement. 'Spartacus' is the most ambitious original project we've ever undertaken, and speaks to the commitment to our subscribers to provide truly original programming along with our unmatched lineup of theatrical features."

The network is debuting the bloody spectacle, which uses the graphic novel style of films like "300," on Jan. 22. The second season will be titled, "Spartacus: Vengeance."

This isn't the first time a network has renewed a show before its series debut. Showtime made headlines by ordering a second season of its Hank Azaria drama "Huff" before its debut (and the series only lasted two seasons). Though such a move does indeed show confidence, it can also reduce costs by preventing a break in production.

The first look of My Name Is Khan, which was shown to the media at 9.45 p.m., was unveiled to the public in India on all the channels of Star TV at 10 p.m. the same day. The first trailer of one of the most expensive films of Bollywood was thereafter beamed in 70 countries, at 10 p.m. in each of them. The simultaneous worldwide release of the promotional trailer (it was viewed in 70 countries in a matter of 24 hours, due to variations in time in the different countries) was planned because the worldwide distributors of the film, Twen­tieth Century Fox, will release …Khan the world over on 14th February next year. In other words, a host of countries where Hindi films are not released traditionally, will see Khan hitting their cine­mas on the same day as it is relea­sed in India and the traditional Over­seas markets like the USA and the UK.Twentieth Century Fox was repre­sented at the party by Uday Shankar, CEO, Star India, and Vijay Singh, CEO of Fox Star Studios.Indeed, the trailer was appreciated so much by those present at the party and similarly by the public later that it seems, the film will get an unprecedented opening when it hits the screens next year.

OUR TAKE - Lots of categories and AKKI a winner more than once – way to go!

BOND 23 to have a shocking story!

I’m still reeling from the crushingly disappointing Quantum of Solace, but I’m continuing to hope for the best regarding future Daniel Craig Bond outings. And if we’re to believe Bond 23 (the film is still untitled) scribe Peter Morgan (The Queen, The Last King of Scotland), the next entry in the franchise may be different than the typical Bond film. Speaking to Bond fansite MI6, Morgan said that the next Bond film has a “shocking story.” It’s easy to read a lot into such a short statement, but as the first real bit of news about the next Bond film, it’s making me hopeful that it’ll resemble Casino Royale more so than Quantum.Morgan is writing the script along with Bond regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, but it’s Morgan’s involvement in particular that’s making me hopeful about Bond 23. While Purvis, Wade, and Paul Haggis succeeded in writing one of the best action films of the past few decades with Casino Royale, they sort of missed the mark with Quantum’s script. (To be fair, much of the blame regarding that film’s failures should go to director Marc Forster.) Morgan is undoubtedly a better writer than Haggis, which makes prospects for Bond 23’s script good overall.

Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone starrer "Love Aaj Kal" has bagged 15 nominations for the 5th Apsara Film and Television Producers Guild Awards to be held here Jan 8 next year.

"Love Aaj Kal" has been nominated for awards in various categories, including best film, best director (Imtiaz Ali), best actor in a leading role (Saif), best actress in a leading role (Deepika), best female singer, best male singer, et al.

The film is about the essence of love that never changes despite time and space difference. It raked in Rs.8 crore (Rs.80 million) on its opening day.

A total of 24 films have been nominated in various categories, including "Kaminey", "Wake Up Sid", "Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi" and "Ghajini" for the Apsara awards.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Chitrakoot Grounds, Andheri, here.